Visiting Yakushi Kabuto

"Including Hashirama, who was also a close friend of mine."

Shamu emphasized that point specifically for Tobirama.

Although Tobirama had always remained hostile toward the Uchiha Clan,

from Sasuke's past descriptions of Shamu, he did believe that his older brother had truly been very close to Shamu.

Because Shamu was one of the rare Uchiha who possessed great love in his heart.

And this Uchiha's strength was also unnaturally powerful.

Tobirama narrowed his eyes. "Shamu, are you saying that my brother and I were both revived in your timeline?"

Shamu spread his hands. "Of course. How could I possibly let your research talent and Hashirama's combat talent lie around doing nothing?"

"Whether it's you, your brother, Madara, or Izuna, all of you work for me."

"Izuna really was revived?" Madara asked again for confirmation.

Shamu chuckled and pointed at Tobirama. "Do you think that with this guy around, you'd work for me if Izuna wasn't revived?"

This time, Tobirama snorted.

After thinking for a moment, Shamu activated his Sharingan and cast a genjutsu directly into Madara's mind.

Madara immediately saw what Izuna looked like after being revived through Rinne Rebirth.

Once Madara came back to his senses, a sharp light flashed in his eyes and even his breathing grew heavy.

"What do I need to do now to make you revive Izuna?"

Shamu knew Madara could not wait, but for now, Madara had no choice but to wait.

"You need to revive Nagato first."

"Nagato?" Madara did not quite understand.

"What does he have to do with this?"

Shamu's eyes shifted.

"Of course he does. In that timeline, with his help, I found a divine artifact that could revive many people at once."

"Although it no longer exists in this timeline, it should be fine to revive him first as thanks, right?"

Madara was somewhat surprised. "What divine artifact?"

Shamu looked at Naruto. "Do you remember the Gelel Ore Vein?"

Naruto frowned and thought...

For Naruto, those memories were nearly twenty years old.

But Shamu prompted him, "The border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers. Temujin. An ancient civilization."

"Ah... that..." Naruto suddenly remembered.

"Was it the Water of Life in those ore veins?"

Shamu nodded. "That can be used to revive large numbers of people."

"The Gelel Ore Vein in your timeline was swallowed by the Hole of Time and Space. It's gone."

"In my timeline, Nagato risked his life to preserve some of it."

Only then did Naruto cry out in regret.

Shamu waved a hand. "You were young then. You didn't understand its value."

Orochimaru wore a strange expression beside them. Shamu really knew how to make things up. Even if there was Water of Life, it could only replenish life energy.

Where would he get enough ocular power to revive so many people at once?

And if Orochimaru's guess was correct, Shamu would probably revive all the gifted people as well. Those people had not been dead for merely a year or two.

There had also been considerable risk when Sasuke revived Madara last time.

Madara had needed quite some time to recover before he had enough ocular power to revive Minato.

That was because those people had been dead for too long, placing an enormous drain on ocular power.

To revive people safely, one needed a relatively long time to restore ocular power.

According to Orochimaru's understanding, Shamu could only use that god's power to revive many people at once.

But using that god's power most likely came with conditions and thresholds.

Orochimaru did not know the specifics. Did Shamu's desire to revive Nagato first have something to do with that?

Orochimaru had only obtained those memories after Shamu arrived. The memories Sasuke had brought back last time did not contain any related plans.

Thus, Orochimaru had not made any preparations either.

"If that's the case, we'll need to find Kabuto."

Before Sasuke returned, Orochimaru had conducted research in Konoha under surveillance. He definitely could not work on Impure World Reincarnation.

After so much time had passed, the last person to come into contact with those corpses had been Yakushi Kabuto.

To find Nagato's corpse, they would need Yakushi Kabuto as well.

"It's still early. Let's go directly."

Madara was the most anxious. After all, this concerned whether his younger brother could be revived.

Among them, Orochimaru and Kabuto undoubtedly had the best relationship.

The group headed toward the orphanage.

Orphanage.

After finishing a day's work, Kabuto rested in his office.

His fingers rubbed over a photograph lying on the desk.

The picture showed a blonde nun—Yakushi Nonō, Yakushi Kabuto's adoptive mother.

Danzo's purge plan had forced them to kill each other back then, and Nonō had ultimately died by Kabuto's hand.

That was also the root cause of the enormous void in Yakushi Kabuto's heart.

It was only after Itachi used Izanami that Yakushi Kabuto came to recognize his true self.

Otherwise, the Fourth Shinobi World War would have encountered even more complications.

After the war, Kabuto had spent considerable effort printing out the portrait from his memories.

After all, Kabuto had not kept any photographs back then.

Now that the Five Great Nations no longer had any major conflicts, Kabuto's strength could be considered among the first tier beneath Naruto and Sasuke.

But he no longer had any desire to compete. He only wanted to run the orphanage well together with Urushi.

A few months earlier, Orochimaru and Sasuke had come here together.

Yakushi Kabuto had already noticed that Lord Orochimaru seemed somewhat different from before.

Even his personality had changed in certain ways, but Lord Orochimaru had merely claimed that the Sharingan in those children's eyes were dangerous.

He had removed every one of those children's Sharingan.

Kabuto had not seen Orochimaru recently.

Still, Kabuto had a feeling that Lord Orochimaru would come looking for him again.

"Kabuto, Orochimaru, the Eighth Hokage, the Seventh Hokage, Sasuke, and the others have come to see you. They'll be here any moment."

Urushi hurried in anxiously.

Yakushi Kabuto was surprised. What could possibly require so many people to come together?

"Understood. Urushi, go downstairs first."

Urushi had barely stepped out when Shamu's group entered.

They filed in one after another, immediately cramming Yakushi Kabuto's office full.

"Lord Orochimaru, Seventh Hokage, Eighth Hokage, Sasuke..."

Everyone present was an old acquaintance, but when Kabuto saw the last three people, he froze.

"Madara!? Second Hokage, Fourth Hokage!?"

What shocked him even more was that everyone stepped aside.

They revealed the final person, dressed in Uchiha Clan attire.

A somewhat frivolous voice rang out. "Tsk, tsk. How did you become so greasy too?"

"This hairstyle is really hard to praise."

Shamu looked Yakushi Kabuto up and down, comparing his changed hairstyle to how he had looked before.

It was practically like he had replaced his entire head.

"Who might this be?"

When Kabuto saw that everyone present subtly treated this person as their leader,

he knew this person was no ordinary figure. Kabuto's talent for sage arts was extremely high.

He could clearly sense Natural Energy continuously flowing into that person's body.

Orochimaru stepped forward to introduce him. "He is the head of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Shamu."